Sports

In Contention: Cañon City Tigers golf team has 2 shooting low 80s, others on heels

By Brandon Hopper

hopperb@canoncitydailyrecord.com

Posted:
08/11/2014 12:47:50 PM MDT

McKay Diedrich during Cañon City Tigers golf practice Thursday at Shadow Hills Golf Club in Cañon City. Diedrich will be the Tigers' top golfer, according to team's qualifying finishes. (Brandon Hopper / Daily Record)

The Tigers have their big boomers back. And they feel if they get another golfer to step up, they'll be able to make a run at a league title.

Ready to lead the golf team this season are seniors McKay Diedrich and Hunter Dillon.

A 10-over par in boys golf typically results in landing near the top of the leaderboard in most invitationals. Both did that last year, and are looking to knock off a few more strokes from those scores.

"I expect McKay to lead the pack," head coach Sean Murphy said. "... It's kind of his and Hunter's team this year. ... I expect them to play well. I think they expect themselves to play well. Both are capable of shooting 10-over par on any given day, and that's kind of what we're shooting for."

A score of 10-over is typically an 82, which is right where the two averaged as juniors. Dillon broke into the 70s in one tournament to finish in fourth place. Diedrich is confident he can join his teammate in that category.

"This summer I've been playing a lot of tournaments and (have shot 80 a lot)," Diedrich said, "so I'm really close to shooting in the 70s."

During the team's qualifying rounds last week, Diedrich shot an 81 and 82 to finish tops for Cañon City.

Both seniors shot scores last season that would typically qualify them for state, but Diedrich was the only one to qualify on the day it mattered with Dillon missing the cut.

Advertisement

"I had some good tournaments here and there, but when it came to regionals, it wasn't too good like I thought it would be," Dillon said.

His lone mark in the 70s was a 79 at Hollydot Golf Course in Colorado City, which happens to be the site of this year's regional tournament.

There are four varsity spots in prep golf. Junior Robby Steinbeck and senior Austin Eilert grabbed the last two during qualifying, although the entire lineup is fluid throughout the season if Murphy sees the need to make a switch.

Now that the varsity lineup is determined, Murphy said they'll start working hard on their 50-yards-and-in game, particularly chipping. If they can improve in that area, he said, they'll have a chance to win the team title in their first year of Colorado Springs Metro League play. Based on regional scores last season, the Tigers would have won the CSML last year.

That will be decided through four tournaments, the first of which being hosted by the Tigers on Aug. 20 at Shadow Hills Golf Club. Mitchell, Widefield and Woodland Park are the others that will count toward league standings.

Regionals being held at Hollydot bodes well for the Tigers since they play there often. That's when state qualifiers are determined.

"My goal is to always try to get to where we have three kids qualify for state so we can compete as a team," Murphy said.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.